Advice for Engineers: Tip Two – Make a List and Think Ahead

The RTM Engineering Consultants (RTM) team advocates both internal and external training that benefits employees throughout the company. Our team is encouraged to share knowledge and to sign up for various seminars and professional development hours to ensure we provide consistent and innovative quality designs to our clients. In a new series, we share tips and insights aimed at helping the next generation of engineers grow and excel within the industry.

The A/E/C industry consists of multiple projects with overlapping deadlines and changing schedules. According to RTM Principal Mitesh Smart, P.E., engineers are regularly handed four to five projects every two to three weeks with a turnaround time of roughly four months, which equates to 30-40 projects over a four-month period. This type of workload can easily overwhelm even the most experienced professionals, let alone an individual who is fresh out of school.

What’s the best approach for keeping your head above water? The answer is simple: start by making a list!

“List out all your projects, and then make a sub list for each task. Prioritize the list and make sure you share it with your supervisor or studio chair on a weekly basis,” advises Smart. “This will ensure you stay on track and help move projects forward.”

After you make a list, your job doesn’t end there; make sure to think ahead. Start on other projects, even if you’re simply determining the project scope. This will help in managing your time better as varying deadlines approach.

“For example, send out as-builts for a project due next week to the team for drafting, while you are working on a project that is due this week,” continued Smart. “This will make sure that when you are ready to work, you are not feverishly trying to CADD up the as-builts last minute.”

Click here to read part one of our series, “Plus or Minus 10 Percent.” To learn more about RTM’s corporate culture, click here.